Tablas Creek Winery

One of the perks of being on a winery's mailing list or wine club is often the newsletter sent out at various times announcing an offering or a harvest update. They can range from quirky like Patricia Green or to chatty like Alban or downright educational like Tablas Creek. The latest Tablas Creek had a wonderful essay on the varietal Marsanne, with only 39 acres planted to it in all of California! A bit of an obscure varietal for the US, but nonetheless an interesting read.

Asian Dining in Alanta

Had the good fortune to eat both luch and dinner in Atlanta yesterday and had two very different experiences....

First up was Jean George's Spice Market located in the W Hotel. We've been to the one in NYC many times, and the Atlanta version once prior. The concept is Asian street food..encompassing Thailand to India. The food appeals to us....think of it as asian tapas. The foodies in Atlanta have not really embraced the place. The food was good but the service off. The reservation for a table of 8 seemed to have escaped them, so a brief wait as a table was readied. The lunch at this place is a bento box with several items, but half the table was served and half not. Multiple requests to at least 3 different waiters to straighten out the problem went unheeded...the manager ultimately became involved with some, but not total success at resolving all the mistakes.

We are great fans of Jean Georges various venues...from Vong to JoJo to the flagship Jean George in NYC, and have never once had any issues with service. Hopefully, a fluke, but nonetheless, not a way to impress your guests.

Take 2 was the ever reliable Tasty China for dinner in Marietta...can't rave enough about the food here. Always reliable Fish/Cilantro rolls, pork in Garlic Mud, small fried fish, green beans with pork and olives, dried fried eggplant and a noodle and fish dish or two. A slight redo of the interior since we were last there. The shopping center in which it sits continues to struggle, with the Middle Eastern grocery next door the latest to close. However, Tasty China was doing a good business last night, with 2/3 of the diners asian.

Aria Atlanta: Wine and Salt

A great wine destination, with a pinot noir centric reserve list....but, the restaurant is cramped, loud and the food oversalted. Standouts were a bull's blood beets appetizer. The hyped lobster cocktail was fine, but not memorable. For entrees, our party of four stuck with the recommendations including niman slow roasted pork and the zinfandel beef short ribs. 24 hours later, still have a dry mouth from the out the roof saline content. The hyped cheescake really was a great and unusual presentation, but suffered from the same saltiness and lacked sugar. The dominant sensation on the cheesecake was salt...really odd. The best of the desserts was the seasonal apple tart.

Place was packed so Atlantan's must think they have something good. However, this is no place to return to.

Noma, the World's Greatest Restaurant? Or Hallucination?

This Copenhagen restaurant received its second Michelin star...and it has a rather comfortable, casual feel....almost like one of those ubiquitous seaside seafood restaurants we find all over the US- lots of bare wood, but with a Danish style, chairs draped with animal skins. Its in a non descript warehouse overlooking the water, but any comparison to anything we've ever experienced stops there.

Claus Meyer and Rene Redzepi have created an altar to Nordic cuisine...they've taken the oft used mantra to cook/source local and applied it in a brilliant way...Redzepi spent time with Thomas Keller at the French Laundry and with Ferran Adria at El Bulli.

Hallucinatory? Perhaps thats the best way to describe the experience. Gooseberries, cauliflower, milk skin, beach herbs, fish skin....doesn't sound like a plan leading to a great meal does it? Sounds almost like what you might expect to find at a Danish hippie commune out in the back woods somewhere. Trust me, these ingredients were elevated to unfathomable heights...as you sit and enjoy course after course you shake your head that without foie or truffles or traditional sauces or Kobe beef you are experiencing one of the greatest meals of your life. Many a chef can be creative...but to be creative and to do it with product ignored (and largely unavailable before the opening of Noma) by the local Nordic citizenry is an accomplishment so mind boggling that Redzepi deserves some sort of Nobel prize.

Here was the tasting menu the night we went:

Raw shrimps and green gooseberries
Fresh cream and dill

Shoots and malt
Potato puree

Skate wing and mussel liquor
Cauliflower in different textures

Warm lobster salad
Red currant wine and beach herbs

Kid Goat and dust of thyme
Hazelnuts and mushrooms

Raspberries and beet roots
Marinated rose hips

Blueberries and milkskin
Pickled pine tree shoots and sweet bread

After reading the menu, you probably think I have zero credibility when I say this has to be one of the greatest restaurants on earth. But for us, it easily surpassed French Laundry. Easily. You must experience it yourself to understand it.

Tasty China, Marietta Georgia

This Sichuan style Chinese restaurant is unlike anything we've encountered....a bit of a region of China not represented well in the US.

The famous Peter Chang has long since come and gone, but he left an indelible mark on this restaurant which has received much recognition among food bloggers (check out Chowhound for the most extensive discussion of this place). Basic Chinese restaurant decor with a sometime fish tank in the front entry, its prices are reasonable and the food delicious. BYOB is allowed with no corkage....a riesling would be most appropriate given the heat of the food.

Here is our short list of items to try...don't miss the first five,,,and if "puffy bread" ever makes it back to the menu, try it as well.

Dried Fried Eggplant (a must, and it must be requested as it does not appear on the menu)
Small Fried Fish
Pork in Garlic Mud (Chinese Pork Belly!)
Green Beans with Olives
Fish/Cilantro Rolls
Roasted Fish with Scallions
Beef Scallions Hot Pot
Chow Fun Noodles

Craven Quail Farms

If you are looking for fresh quail eggs in the Chattanooga area, try Lookout Mountain based Craven Quail Farms, phone 706-398-3604. Their E mail address is CravenQuailFarms@gmail.com.  Update:  Now often available locally at GreenLife.

Mitolo GAM 2004

Most of us are buying and drinking less Australian wine these days for a myriad of reasons. Many of us assume that Aussies don't age or lack sophistication or nuance because of their big flavor profiles. Or the fall of the US dollar has made them relatively less affordable. I've not bought much in a couple of years, but have started to realize recently that they still represent a better value and better done than the majority of US syrah. Of course, there are some great US syrah like alban and saxum and carlisle and ojai and tensley. But then we open a bottle of this stuff, which received 97 Wine Advocate points (89 from spectator). Can't say that I've enjoyed a wine more than this in several weeks. Softening, with the alcohol and big fruit flavors starting to subdue (ok,honestly, but still plenty big and inky) and secondary flavors starting to reveal themselves. Liked this better than a 98 Penfolds Grange from last month.

Bottom line: Don't count the Aussies out. With the dollar strengthing, and the Aussies still the masters of shiraz/syrah, they'll be back.